Grammar School Admissions & the 11+: How to Apply

If you are thinking about a grammar school, the first thing to understand is that it runs on two tracks at once, and missing either one can cost your child a place. You have to put your child in for the 11+ test directly with the school or its test group, and you have to make a separate, normal application to your council for a secondary place. They sit on different timetables, with different deadlines, and one does not stand in for the other. This guide walks through both, plus the test itself, the 2026-27 timeline, how scores and oversubscription decide who gets in, and what happens if your child passes but still does not get an offer.

It assumes you already know the basics of the standard admissions round. If you do not, start with our guide to school admissions in England, which covers the general state-school system; this page is the grammar-specific layer that sits on top of it.

What a grammar school actually is

A grammar school is a state-funded secondary school that is allowed to select pupils by academic ability. There are 163 grammar schools left in England, clustered in particular areas such as Kent, Buckinghamshire, Essex, Lincolnshire, parts of London and the West Midlands. They are free, like any other state school, but instead of admitting from a general pool they admit children who reach a required standard in an entrance test taken in Year 6. That test is the 11+.

Because they select on ability, grammars do not slot neatly into the normal "nearest school" logic. A child may qualify for a grammar several miles away while a non-selective school sits closer to home. That is fine, but it means you are running a parallel process rather than swapping one school for another on the standard form.

The two parallel processes you must complete

This is the part parents most often get wrong, so it is worth being blunt about it.

Register for the 11+ test. You do this directly, usually with the grammar school itself or the shared testing consortium that covers your area. Registration is its own form, with its own deadline, months before the council application. It only enters your child for the exam. It is not an application for a place.
Apply through your council. You still complete the normal common application form for secondary school, due by 31 October in Year 6, and you list the grammar schools you want on it alongside any non-selective schools. This is the form that actually requests places.

Both are required. Sitting the 11+ without naming the grammar on your council form means no place can be offered. Naming the grammar on the council form without having registered and sat the test means your child has no qualifying score to be considered with. Treat them as two locks on the same door: you need both keys.

The 11+ test: subjects, boards and scores

The 11+ is not one national exam. Each selective area, and sometimes each school, decides what to test and how to weight it, so the content varies. Most tests draw on some combination of four areas: verbal reasoning, non-verbal reasoning, maths and English. Some areas test all four, others a narrower set. Always check the published format for the specific schools you are aiming at rather than assuming.

GL, CEM and ISEB

You will see exam boards mentioned a lot. GL Assessment is the most widely used provider for state grammar tests across England. CEM, which used to run many areas' tests, withdrew from the paper-based grammar 11+ market in 2023, and most schools that had used it moved to GL or another arrangement. ISEB sets a Common Pre-Test that is mainly used by independent (fee-paying) schools rather than state grammars, so for most state-grammar applicants GL is the one that matters. The board affects the style and content of the papers, which is worth knowing if you are choosing practice material, but it does not change the application steps above.

How scoring works

Children sit the test at different ages within the same school year, so raw marks are not used directly. They are converted into a standardised score that is adjusted for age, so a child born in August is not disadvantaged against one born the previous September. The scale is built around an average of 100. Each selective area then sets a qualifying mark, the score a child needs to reach to be considered eligible for a grammar place. In several competitive counties that mark sits around 121, but it is not a universal figure, so read the admissions policy for your target schools. Reaching the qualifying mark makes your child eligible. It does not, on its own, secure a place.

An exam hall with primary-age children sitting spaced out at single desks taking a written entrance test

The 2026-27 timeline at a glance

For a child starting secondary school in September 2027, the test is taken in the autumn of Year 6, which means the registration steps come surprisingly early. Exact dates differ by area and the test-registration deadlines are enforced strictly, so confirm everything with each school or consortium, but the shape of the year usually looks like this:

April to May 2026: 11+ registration opens. You register your child directly with the grammar school or its testing group, and note the closing date, which is often weeks before the test.
Early September 2026: the 11+ test is sat, typically in the first couple of weeks of the autumn term.
Mid-October 2026: results are released, telling you whether your child reached the qualifying mark.
31 October 2026: the council common application form is due. You list your school choices, including any grammars, by this national deadline.
1 March 2027: National Offer Day, when secondary offers are released to families.

The order matters: results land in mid-October, just before the 31 October application deadline, so you usually know your child's score before you finalise the council form. Use that fortnight well. For the full cycle across all secondary admissions, see our admissions timeline and deadlines guide.

How grammar oversubscription criteria differ

Once children are deemed eligible, a popular grammar still has to decide who gets its limited places. It does this with oversubscription criteria, the same mechanism every school uses, but with a selective twist. The two broad models are worth knowing because they change your strategy completely.

Catchment-based grammars. Among children who reach the qualifying mark, places are allocated by criteria such as distance from the school, with priority for looked-after children and siblings first. Here, living close can matter more than a high score, and a child far outside catchment may miss out despite passing comfortably.
Super-selective grammars. These rank all qualifying children by their test score and offer places to the highest down, with little or no distance element. A child can clear the qualifying mark by a wide margin and still not make the cut, because the line falls wherever the places run out that year. These schools attract applicants from a wide area and are among the most competitive.

The lesson is to read each grammar's published criteria before you bank on a place. The way places are sorted is the same logic as any oversubscribed school; our guide to oversubscription criteria explains how those ranked rules are applied in detail.

Passed the 11+ but no place: what now

It catches families off guard every year. Your child reaches the qualifying mark, the letter says "eligible", and then the grammar offer does not come on National Offer Day. Eligibility and a place are not the same thing. If the school was oversubscribed, a child who qualified can still be turned down on distance or on score, depending on the model above.

You are not out of options, and you do not have to gamble your child's September place on it. You can accept the best offer your child did receive, which protects a confirmed school, and at the same time join the waiting list for the grammar and lodge an appeal. Doing all three together costs you nothing and keeps every route open. This is the strongest argument for naming realistic non-selective schools on the same council form: if a grammar place does not come through, you want a school you actually chose, not whatever the council has left to allocate.

Waiting lists for grammars are ordered by the same oversubscription criteria, not by how long you have waited, so a position can move up as well as down. For how those lists behave, see how waiting lists are ordered.

Appeals for a grammar place

You can appeal to an independent panel, and the kind of case you make depends on why your child missed out. If your child did not reach the qualifying score, the appeal generally has to show that the test result did not reflect their true academic ability, perhaps because of illness on the day or a clear procedural problem. That is a demanding case to make. If your child qualified but missed a place because the grammar was full, the appeal is closer to a normal admission appeal, weighing the case for that school against the disruption to the year group of admitting another child. Either way you can appeal and stay on the waiting list at once. Our guide to appealing a refused school place covers the grounds and the deadlines.

How to slot grammars into your council form

When you fill in the common application form, the grammar schools go on it like any other choice, but the spread of your list matters more than usual because grammar places are competitive. A sensible approach is to name the grammar or grammars you are aiming for, then back them with non-selective schools you would genuinely accept and have a realistic chance at, so the form cannot leave you empty-handed. The order on the form does not change your odds at any single school; it only decides which qualifying offer you receive. Our guide on how to rank your school preferences explains exactly how that ordering is used, and it applies to grammars in the same way as any other school.

Pulling it together

Grammar entry is not complicated once you see the shape of it: register for the 11+ early and directly, sit the test in the autumn of Year 6, then make sure the grammars you want are named on the council form by 31 October, with a realistic safety net underneath them. Reaching the qualifying mark opens the door; the school's oversubscription criteria decide whether you walk through it. Know which model your target grammar uses, keep a non-selective option you would accept, and you have given your child a fair shot without leaving anything to chance.

For the official position on applying for any secondary place, including how the council must find a school if none of your choices can offer one, the government's page on how to apply for a school place is the authority. You can begin your wider research, including catchment checks and school data, from the Schools Insight homepage.

Frequently asked questions

Do I have to apply twice for a grammar school?

In effect, yes, and they are two different things. First you register your child directly for the 11+ test, usually with the school or the test consortium, in the spring or early summer of Year 5. That registration is only an entry to the exam. Separately, you still complete the normal council secondary application, the common application form, by 31 October in Year 6, listing the grammar schools you want alongside any other secondary schools. Sitting the test does not apply for a place, and the council form alone does not enter your child for the exam. You need both.

What does the 11+ test and how is it scored?

Most 11+ tests cover some mix of verbal reasoning, non-verbal reasoning, maths and English, though the exact subjects depend on the school or area. Raw marks are converted into a standardised score that is adjusted for the child's age, so younger children in the year group are not penalised. The scale is usually built around an average of 100. Each selective area sets its own qualifying mark, often around 121 in competitive counties, but the figure varies, so check the policy for the schools you are interested in rather than relying on a single number.

My child passed the 11+ but did not get a place. How?

Passing the 11+ makes your child eligible for a grammar place, but it does not guarantee one. If more eligible children apply than there are places, the school uses its oversubscription criteria to decide who gets in. At a catchment-based grammar that can mean distance from the school decides between qualified children; at a super-selective grammar, places go to the highest scorers, so an above-pass mark can still miss out. This is exactly why you should also name realistic non-selective schools on the same application form.

When do I register for the 11+ for 2027 entry?

For entry in September 2027, your child sits the 11+ in autumn of Year 6, so registration typically opens in the spring or early summer beforehand, often around April or May, with the test in early September and results in mid-October. The council application form is then due by 31 October. Dates differ by area and the registration deadlines are strict, so confirm the exact dates with each grammar school or its consortium well ahead of time.

Can I appeal if my child does not get a grammar place?

Yes. You can appeal to an independent panel for a grammar school place. For a child who did not reach the qualifying score, an appeal usually has to argue that the test did not reflect the child's true ability, which is a high bar. For a child who qualified but missed out on a place because the school was oversubscribed, the appeal is closer to a standard admission appeal about the impact of refusal. You can appeal and stay on the waiting list at the same time.

Should I list non-selective schools as well as grammars?

Almost always, yes. Grammar places are competitive, and a form that names only grammar schools risks leaving you with no offer if your child does not get in, in which case the council allocates whatever school still has space. Listing realistic non-selective schools alongside the grammars protects your child's place for September. Naming extra schools does not count against you at the grammars, because no school sees the others on your list.

Grammar admissions reward parents who plan early and keep two timetables in view at once. Get the test registration in on time, name the schools that fit your child's real chances, and keep a school you would happily accept on the list, and the rest of the process becomes a matter of following the dates.